Onsen Adventure
by mjnousak
Summary: Oneshot fluff for Kenichi and Shigure. No actual romance, but a quick story of them bonding together, and some of the manga's usual hilarity at the end.


Howdy everyone, this is a quick one shot I wrote on a whim. It's just supposed to be a bonding moment for Shigure and Kenichi, nothing else. The setting it just before the trip to Osaka. I am working on "Ah! Keiichi Gets an Angel" but this just kinda popped into my head. It has NOT been proofread so please forgive any typos. The next thing I post will be a new chapter for KGAA.

Kenichi sighed as he finished his training with Apachai, new bruises and scrapes joining the thousands that he already had from his training with the Death god. The bruises weren't even as sore as they used to be either. He didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing given that this meant his master very well may hit him harder if he mentioned this. He sighed as he head to the secondary living quarters section of the dojo to get ready for a nice, hot, soothing bath. He went to his room, undressed and wrapped his towel around his waist tightly before grabbing his bathing bucket full of shampoo and body wash. Along the way to the bath house, he was suddenly assailed by Tochumaru's tail smacking his nose.

"Ah! What is it Tochumaru?" he said, waving his arms in his face to shoo away the rat, missing him with both hands. Tochumaru merely dodged and landed, began to wave one of his tiny hands, motioning for Kenichi to follow him. Kenichi, who looked very confusedly at the mouse, followed him along the wooden floor of Ryozanpaku. "Hey, I was about to take a bath, so if whatever it is can wait till I'm done-," he stopped speaking when he noticed they were in front of Shigure's room. "Why'd you bring me here Tochumaru?" he asked as Tochumaru slid under the crack in Shigure's door. Kenichi stared at the door, trying to figure out what was going on. "And he's gone." Kenichi said, hanging his head sadly.

"Oh, hello Kenichi." Kenichi turned to see Akisame walking by, holding a small, half carved stone Buddha in his hand.

"Akisame-sensei, hello." Kenichi replied, smiling. "How're you tonight?"

"Oh fine." Akisame replied walking till he was standing in front of Kenichi, still carving his Buddha with one hand. "May I ask what you're doing in front of Shigure's room in a towel?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Tochumaru brought me here." Kenichi replied.

"Tochumaru did?"Akisame asked, his face looking like a mix between confused and pensive. "Why would he do that?"

"I have no idea."Kenichi replied "I was heading to the bath house, Tochumaru found me and hit me with his tail before leading me here." Kenichi explained, showing Akisame his bath bucket, though he was pretty sure his master had already noticed it.

"Hmm, well I suppose he wanted to show you something." Akisame shrugged slightly. "That or Shigure wanted you for something, but she just got back from a mission."

"Really?" Kenichi asked.

"Yes, she handed Miu a rather large amount of money before she headed to her room. So the mission must have been quite a success." Akisame replied.

"I wonder what she does on those missions." Kenichi wondered aloud. "I mean she took me with her once." He shuddered at the memory of his "eliminate fear" training with Shigure. "But she can't possibly be doing that all the time."

"Well, you could probably ask her if she isn't sleeping."Akisame offered. "She usually takes a bath after a long mission if she doesn't go right to sleep." As if on cue, Shigure appeared in her bathrobe and with her own bathing bucket.

"Can I…help you two?" Shigure asked, looking slightly confused as to why Akisame and Kenichi were standing outside her door.

"I was going to take a bath and Tochumaru had me follow him here." Kenichi said to Shigure, looking confused as well. "He just slid under the door a few seconds ago."

"I did not…see him come in." Shigure said, looking even more confused. Tochumaru always came up to her when he came into her room.

"Hmm, he sure is acting odd." Akisame said, carving an elaborate detail into the Buddha's pants.

"Well, I guess I should go take my bath then." Kenichi said, turning around to head to the bath house.

"Why don't…you join me in the hot springs for a bath?" Shigure offered, this caused Kenichi to blush a very deep red.

"That's not a bad idea." Akisame said, moving up to the shirt of the Buddha, also giving it an elaborate carving.

"WHAT?" Kenichi shouted, his mind racing with the possibilities that taking a bath with Shigure could present, along with the many different ways he could die from this experience, the multitude of traps Shigure always had set traps coming to mind.

"I did want to take a bath and I'm not too fond of the hot springs in the back of the dojo." Akisame said suddenly, his eyes glowing for a split second as he finished the Buddha's eyes as he spoke. "If you're with Shigure, I can use the bath house here. So go on you two." Akisame said, gently shoving Kenichi and Shigure together before walking past them to his room.

"Well then…let's…get going." Shigure said, walking towards the path to the forest outside the dojo, Kenichi slowly followed in her wake.

"Um Shigure-san?" Kenichi suddenly said, a thought occurring to him.

"Yes?" She replied, keeping her eyes on the path ahead.

"I thought there were traps to the hot springs, how come we haven't run into any so far?" Kenichi asked, expecting a log or boulder to show up out of nowhere.

"I'm walking…around the traps." Shigure said calmly, turning and giving Keiichi a look like this was the most obvious thing in the world.

"There's a path around the traps?" Kenichi shouted, shocked that Ma had not found this path before and exploited it.

"Yes. I change it…often" Shigure said, taking a legitimate pause in her sentence before finishing her sentence. She actually changed it every time she came to the springs so Ma would never have a clear path to take, even if he found it once. But she could keep that a secret for now. Kensei had…a unique way of getting information out of Kenichi and she didn't want him thinking there was a foolproof safe way to the springs.

"Oh" Kenichi said, hanging his head in defeat. He had been planning on using that as blackmail information to make Ma teach him a new technique.

"We're almost there." Shigure said as Kenichi saw her pull out a small match from her bath bucket and holding it out, striking it on a tree nearby.

"What's the match for?" Kenichi asked, the few times he and Ma had made it to the spring relatively unharmed, they had not seen any torches around, usually, the moonlight was more than enough illumination.

"You have to…light the torch, otherwise the traps will go off." Shigure said, still walking perfectly calmly with the lit match in her fingers.

"But you said we were walking around the traps!" Kenichi exclaimed.

"Yes…around my traps, not …the Elder's traps." Shigure said, once again making it sound like this should be obvious to Kenichi.

"The Elder laid traps?" Kenichi asked, feeling that Shigure's were far more than enough to deter anyone from intruding.

"Yes, he found he springs…before I came here." Shigure explained "he made traps to scare…off trespassers. Mine are…for Ma." Shigure finished. They came up to a torch and she threw the almost burnt out match into it quickly lighting it. Kenichi didn't know why, but he felt slightly relieved when she lit it. Mostly because he felt like something large and unpleasant had been watching them until they lit the torch, then it seemed to leave.

"So where are the springs?" Kenichi asked, looking around curiously, all he saw was more bamboo, then he looked to his left "A WATERFALL?" Kenichi shouted, looking at the few stories tall waterfall that he was standing a good couple hundred feet away from. How he had not noticed the noise was well beyond him.

"You have to dig…to find hot springs." Shigure said nonchalantly as she walked towards the waterfall. "The elder…dug deep."

"AND BUILT THIS?" Kenichi yelled in utter shock.

"Yes." Shigure answered plainly." The water below…is deep enough to dive into."

"Isn't there some other way? Ma-sifu and I never wound up here before!" Kenichi shouted.

"Yes, this way is…faster." Shigure said, assuming a diver's stance before jumping head first down. Kenichi sighed loudly, this was just like Shigure, taking the more dangerous route for convenience. He gathered his nerves and dove as well, trusting that she wouldn't put him in any immediate danger of drowning.

He didn't fall for quite as long as he thought he would. After hitting the water, he gently swam up to the surface. He noticed Shigure standing at the edge waiting for him. He swam over to her quickly and got out of the water, turning to see how far down he had dived. It was certainly a good distance, but nothing spectacular compared to that cliff he dived off of to save Honoka on the island.

"Come…on." Shigure said, beginning to walk towards a clearly moonlit hot spring. Kenichi followed her, and turned his back when he noticed she set her bath bucket in the water and was disrobing. As much as he thought Shigure was sexy as hell, he did have some decency. He was caught off guard when Shigure tapped his back.

"Are you coming…in?" She asked, Kenichi still turned the other way with his eyes firmly shut.

"Yes! Just get in first!" Kenichi shouted, keeping his eyes closed even tighter.

"O…k" Shigure said, turning and heading to the springs, Kenichi didn't open his eyes until he heard the telltale sounds of water being parted by Shigure moving in it. He sighed and turned around, seeing that Shigure was neck deep in the water with her eyes closed, looking peaceful as her bath bucket floated gently on the slightly disrupted waters surface. Kenichi walked down to the water's edge, made sure Shigure still had her eyes closed, and quickly took off his towel, folded it, and put it on his head while walking till he was also neck deep in the soothingly warm waters, leaving his bucket at the water's edge.

"Ahh, this feels really nice." Kenichi said as he raised his arms behind his head and leaned on a nearby rock.

"It is…nice to have company." Shigure said, her body concealed by the water, she seemed to be sitting down, so Kenichi tried it and found the rocks formed a seat under the water. Though he was pretty sure this was the Elder's doing, not nature's, but he wasn't about to complain.

"Yeah, it is." Kenichi agreed, smiling and closing his eyes slowly. He was making sure he didn't look at Shigure by accident for fear of a nosebleed. A few moments passed in silence as both of them allowed themselves to be soaked in the water before Shigure spoke, her position unchanged.

"How…is school?" Shigure asked Kenichi, looking over at him with her permanently bored expression.

"School?" Kenichi replied, thinking on it for a few moments." Not too bad." He said, smiling a bit. "My grades are still good and nobody's starting any fight. Not that Renka hasn't tried a few times." He said, sighing at the end of his answer. "Can I ask you something Shigure?"

"If you…like." Shigure answered back.

"What do you and the other masters do while I'm at school?" Kenichi assumed they trained nonstop, but none of them ever seemed remotely tired or worn out, especially Apachai.

"I work on… my weapons." Shigure said, pulling a branch down and, slightly to Kenichi's surprise, out fell her dai-katana. "And make extra ones…for later." She continued, pulling a different branch, which dropped a few shuriken and kunai onto a nearby rock, startling Kenichi. He'd normally suspect someone of setting this kind of thing up ahead of time to impress him or show off to him. But, he knew Shigure had an extreme dislike of being unarmed, so he knew these would be here no matter what.

"Oh, that sounds pretty tough. Do you make your own armor as well?" Kenichi asked. The one time he had looked around Shigure's room, he had seen she had quite a collection of weapons and armor. Most of the armor looking generic, but he was sure some of it was custom made.

"Yes, I…do." Shigure said, nodding her head, not that Kenichi could see it because his eyes were closed.

"Cool, could you make me some armor?" Kenichi asked eagerly. He loved having his arm guards, but he figured a little more protection couldn't hurt him. "You could even show me how to use it right?"

"We could… work something out." Shigure said, slowly considering the idea of making armor for someone else. She'd only ever used herself as a reference, but Kenichi was nowhere near her size and shape. "How…is the chain…mail vest I gave you?" She hadn't seen him wear it much in training, he was usually shirtless then.

"Oh! It's really useful!" Kenichi said happily. That vest had saved his life on more than one occasion, the most recent one being where he fought the barbarian swordsman on top of the truck. If not for his bracers and vest, he was sure he would've been dead long ago.

"What kind… of armor were you thinking of?" Shigure asked, figuring that, given how flexible Kenichi was and how much that flexibility played in his fighting style, he'd need minimal armor in order not to restrict his movements. She also had a hard time believing that her fellow masters would approve of Kenichi having extra power in his kicks and punches because he had armor on to make his fists seem harder. None of them even used armor besides the Elder, who used arm guards as well.

"uhh…" Kenichi sat there, staring blankly at his own body, trying to think of somewhere to put armor on himself that wouldn't inhibit his movements, but keep him more protected. "Oh! How about a helmet?" He asked, turning his head in the direction Shigure's voice had come from. Shigure gave no response. Kenichi took this as sign she didn't approve of is idea. "Ah…never mind." He said, hanging his head down.

"A helmet would take… measurements and some style…to design." Shigure said, her silence had actually been from her thinking of how a helmet would be useful to Kenichi. Most helmets covered some of your range of vision, which, while Kenichi used the Seikuken and Ryuusei Seikuken techniques, Kenichi would definitely suffer from the loss of some of his vision.

"I don't mind letting you measure my head Shigure!" Kenichi said, eager to have a bit more protection on his person.

"Hmm…Kenichi?" Shigure responded.

"Yeah Shigure?" Kenichi replied, thinking about how he'd never have to worry about his head being cut in two again by a weapons user.

"Would you mind…scrubbing my back?" She asked, causing Kenichi to blush very red and stiffen suddenly.

"N-no Shigure-s-san." Kenichi said, a clear stutter in his voice as he blindly reached around for Shigure's bath bucket.

"You can…open your eyes." Shigure said, her voice sounding very close to Kenichi.

"Ah…ok." Kenichi said, opening his eyes. He noticed that it was a little darker. He looked up and noticed the moon was hidden behind a few clouds, dimming its silver light. His eyes quickly darted around his immediate field of vision, and he spotted the bucket floating to his left and reached out and grabbed its edge. As he pulled it closer, he realized he would have to look at Shigure in order to scrub her back. He didn't mind that he had to look at Shigure while she was naked, no sane man would. But he still feared her knockout figure would cause him to have such a massive nosebleed, that he would be knocked out. "Shigure-san, is your back turned?" He asked, closing his eyes as he turned to where her voice was coming from.

"I said you could…open your eyes."Shigure replied. Kenichi took that as a yes and opened his eyes. Sure enough, Shigure was still sitting, but now with her smooth pale back to him, her long black hair pulled to her front, covering her massive chest. Kenichi was almost surprised that Shigure didn't have any scars on her back due to how much she trained with weapons. But she was called the Mistress of All Weapons for a reason.

"Alright Shigure-san." Kenichi said as he put some of the soap on his hands and rubbed them together to make the soap foamy. He put his hands on Shigure's back, almost expecting her to react to what he was doing like Miu did whenever someone came from behind her. But she instead seemed to relax under his touch. Kenichi was caught off guard by this, but continued scrubbing Shigure's upper back.

"Mmmm" Shigure sighed slightly and her shoulders dropped as Kenichi continued. He noticed her more visibly relaxing as he went to clean her shoulders. To his surprise, he could feel strong muscle on her shoulders under her skin. He supposed that must be how she could cut things so quickly and swing her long sword so easily. Kenichi was feeling relaxed as well. It had been a longtime since he'd last been able to feel completely safe. If an enemy popped up somehow, Shigure would take care of them, and the odds of an attack now were slim to none given how deep in Ryozanpaku's woods they were, he couldn't help but crack a smile.

"This is…nice." Shigure said suddenly, leaning back onto Kenichi's chest. She couldn't help but notice how firm it was. He'd come a long way as a disciple. When he'd first arrived, she'd barley found him worth talking to and assumed he'd end up running away from the dojo after a while. She'd been very surprised that he actually had kept coming back to the dojo after a few days. It wasn't like she didn't understand his motivation. He first decided to keep coming back with the hopes of seeing Miu more. But he had changed form a boy just looking for a girlfriend; he had become someone with ideals that he'd stick to no matter what. Even if it meant he had to risk his life for someone, he'd stick to his ideals. He was also the only person she was comfortable around. Well, she liked being with Apachai because he was amusing, Akisame was like her second father, Sakaki was funny to watch when Kenichi was in danger, Ma was annoying, but insightful, and she never really got to speak with the Elder, but he was very nice to her when they did exchange words.

But she had bonded with Kenichi in a way she hadn't with the others. She too would worry when he was in danger, and she'd only ever worried about her father, Akisame, her friend the bird, and Tochumaru before Kenichi. She supposed it was because she felt protective of him as a teacher. She didn't get to teach him directly, but she enjoyed being able to help him when she could. Like when she taught him how to swim on the island. Or when she'd given him all those tips on survival during their first mission together, she'd felt especially proud then. She had been worried that she would be unable to teach him anything because he was unwilling to use weapons. She was happy he had stayed in Ryozanpaku, he was funny to watch, fun to teach, and his reactions to all of his more situations were also amusing. She also felt she could relax around him a bit more. Yes, he was quite a bit like Ma when it came to perverted things, but he had much better control of himself than Ma did.

Kenichi blushed as Shigure leaned back and he got almost a complete view of her body. Her hair covering her chest and flowing lackadaisical on the water's edge being the only censor he had as he felt his blood trickle down his nose. Shigure's skin was really soft and it felt nice against his body, and he liked that feeling. But when Shigure leaned back, Kenichi's hands slip down her soapy back and under water to her butt. He fortunately had enough control not to try and close his hands in surprise. He'd made that mistake one too many times with Renka and Rachel for him to do it again. Though he'd never actually been penalized by Rachel, Renka had made sure to show him why he should be wary where his hands wandered, even if it was Renka's fault to begin with.

"AH! I'm sorry Shigure-san!"Kenichi shouted, panicking and retreating to the other side of the rock, where he prayed he was safe from her wrath, or where he could at least minimize the damage to his person. After a few seconds of nothing happening, Kenichi put his guard down and looked around the rock. Shigure was gone from his vision, something that worried him because now she could be anywhere. He guessed she had moved when he went to the other side of the rock, which would explain why he hadn't heard her moving the water. But he kept looking around. "Shigure-san?"

"Yes?" He heard from behind him, but when he turned to see if it was Shigure, it was just the rock looking back at him.

"Where are you Shigure-san?" Kenichi asked, looking around him, but not seeing her.

"Right…here" Shigure's voice came from above Kenichi, who jerked his head up in time to see Shigure looking down at him from the top of the rock, her hair covering most of her torso from her crouching position, making her look like a wet hairy creature with legs and arms.

"Shigure-san, why are you up there?" Kenichi asked, fearing the answer would be "It's easier to strike from above."

"Well, shouldn't I scrub…your back as well?" Shigure asked, holding Kenichi's bathing bucket down to him with a slightly questioning look on her face. Kenichi, who was still blushing from having grabbed Shigure's butt and not been killed, decided it was best to just agree with her and leave it at that.

"Y-yeah Shigure-san." Kenichi said, now wondering if that had just happened as he turned his back to Shigure and scooted foreword a bit so Shigure could fit behind him between him and the rock. He heard a gentle splash and felt Shigure's hair brush against his back for a second before he felt something cloth-like also gently rub on his back. "What was that?" Kenichi asked, not thinking for a second and turning around. He saw Shigure, her chest uncovered now that her arms were above her head, tying her hair back into its usual long ponytail. This was almost too much for Kenichi. He quickly covered his nose, praying Shigure hadn't seen the red flowing from his nose. He assumed he felt her hair wrap brushing on his back before.

"Are you…ok Ken…ichi?" Shigure asked, setting his bathing bucket in the water and pulling out the soap and bubbling up her hands.

"Y-yeah Shigure-san!" Kenichi said a little too loudly, trying desperately to stop his nose from bleeding.

"Ok" Shigure replied, rubbing her hands gently on Kenichi's back. Kenichi relax now, feeling happy that he was still alive, but also that Shigure was being so calm about all this. He knew he'd seen her fully naked before, but he was pretty scared at that time and really wasn't paying attention then. He really didn't understand why Shigure would invite him out to a bath either, she'd never invited anyone but Miu as far a she knew, and that was because Miu was another girl. He'd bathed with her before, but that was under different circumstances entirely. Kenichi suddenly relaxed, laying back and had the feeling Shigure's chest on his back, he blushed, which was not what he expected to happen. He didn't know why he felt so relaxed, maybe Shigure knew some massage techniques for relaxing people? She was raised by Akisame for a while, he probably taught her a thing or two. That was his theory until he noticed a bath bucket float by with a large jar that he knew wasn't his. To top that off, the bottle had a Chinese symbol on it, not Japanese.

"Am I doing…this correctly?" Shigure asked, she had notice Kenichi relaxing and thought she must be doing something right.

"Yeah Shigure-san." Kenichi said lazily as he laid his head on her chest, not entirely aware of where his head was at the moment, but that it was in a very soft place and he felt like sleeping. Shigure smiled warmly at his sleeping form. She knew he wasn't awake because his blush had vanished and his breathing was slow and steady. She shrugged this off and set him on the rock seat, deciding that'd be the best place to leave him for now. She stood up out of the water, went to the baths edge and put back on her robe, and whistled loudly, summoning Apachai. He managed to silently land near the water's edge rather than making his usual loud impact.

"Apa?" He said, looking at Kenichi's sleeping figure and tilting his head to the side in confusion. It was rare Shigure whistled for him, let alone while she was taking a bath. She'd never asked him to bathe with her before, and his seemed like a rather random time to start asking. And why was Kenichi there? And sleeping no less? Nobody slept in the bath, they'd get too wrinkly."What's going on Shigure?" Shigure put her index finger to her mouth, shushing him and then she pointed at Kenichi.

"He's sleeping …we should get him…back to the…dojo." Shigure answered, pointing to Kenichi's towel on his head, and his bucket. "Get…his things please…" Shigure requested. Apachai just looked cluelessly around and shrugged.

"Why can't you Shigure?" Apachai asked, Shigure was more than capable of carrying an unconscious Kenichi by herself, all of the masters were. "Apachai smells something funny here." Shigure pointed to the bottle with the Chinese symbol on it.

"It wasn't…body wash." She bluntly stated. "I think… its Ma's."

"So it would seem." Apachai said, picking up the strange bottle and sniffing it, a lazy look coming over his eyes for a moment. "Yep! Definitely Ma's!" He said, dropping the bottle, causing it to break and its contents to spill over the ground, and thankfully, not into the water. "Apa…oops."

"So, help…me?" Shigure asked as she picked up her possessions sliding her dai-katana inside her robe back and turning to see Apachai holding the now naked Kenichi out of the water.

When Kenichi woke up., he was in Shigure's room, which confused him. He had just been in the bath with her a few moments ago, or had that been a dream? He knew he was in Shigure's room, and he couldn't' think of any other reason that he would be there in only his towel. Of course, that was a stretch in and of its self.

"Um, Shigure-san? "Kenichi said, sitting up and noticing he was still only in his towel. Shigure, who had been hammering on something on her anvil, turned to face him, her bored expression back on her face.

"Yes?" She replied, sweat pouring down her face from working so close to the heat. Can…I help you?"

"Yeah, uh, how did I get here?" Kenichi asked, sitting up properly and noticing a pair of his sleeping pants nearby.

"You fell…asleep. I had Apachai…carry you back…here." Shigure answered before returning to her hammering. "He brought…your clothes." Shigure pointed her hammer at the sleeping pants next to Kenichi.

"Oh…erm, this is gonna sound really weird, but did we take a bath together?" Kenichi asked, sliding his pants on under his towel, the removing and folding the towel.

"Yes…it was…very nice." Shigure said, her back to Kenichi now. Kenichi's face flushed red ads those thoughts he dismissed as a dream suddenly rushed back to his head. He blushed and pinched his nose to stop the flow of blood he knew was trying to force its way out of his head.

"R-really?" Kenichi asked, hoping his blush wasn't too apparent.

"Yes." Shigure said, suddenly moving whatever she was working on to a tub of water, causing a large amount of steam to rise from it.

"Uh, what are you making?" Kenichi asked. He had manage dot calm himself enough to look at what Shigure was doing and noticed a long dark purple cloth and some unknown pieces of metal nearby.

"Making.. a head…band." Shigure answered, pulling the object out from the water, revealing it to be a decent sized piece of rectangular metal with the kanji for "Histories Strongest Disciple" on it. "I decided…a helmet…was trouble…some. So I made you…this." She used the smaller metal pieces and attached the metal to the cloth, which made an odd *shink* noise when she picked it up.

"What kind of fabric is that? "Kenichi asked, getting ready to back away if Akisame's name came up. He was already Akisame's test subject for his machines, he didn't need to be his new clothing dummy as well.

"More chain…mail covered by two…pieces of…cloth." Shigure answered, handing Kenichi the finished headband. "Try…it"

Kenichi looked down at his new headband. It felt nice in his hands as he tied it around his head. Shigure reached behind his head suddenly, attaching something else to it.

"Um, Shigure-san what was that?" Kenichi asked again, becoming slowly more curious about his mistress' creation.

"A clip…for the…chainmail." She replied in a matter of fact tone. "If the cloth rips…the chain mail will stay…on."

"Ahhh, thanks Shigure-san!" Kenichi said happily.

"It's not… big deal." Shigure began cleaning her tools silently, while Kenichi fiddled with the headband, finding where it was most comfortable on his head and where the clip was so he could clip it himself. Sakaki , Ma, Akisame, and Miu, walked into the room, each deflecting a bamboo shoot that came from the floor at the doorway.

"There you are Kenichi! Miu was worried sick about you when you weren't in bed." Sakaki said loudly, smiling down at his disciple and rubbing under his nose for no apparent reason.

"You were rather worried yourself Sakaki-chan." Ma said, chuckling and tipping his hat a bit to look at Kenichi. "Oh? What that you've got there?" He said upon noticing the headband.

"Shigure-san made it for me!" Kenichi said, smiling brightly. "I bet it'll be really useful against the weapons division of YOMI and Yami." Kenichi said, eagerly.

"We'll have to adjust your training then to include concussive damage resistance." Akisame said, his eyes glowing brightly as he also looked at his disciple.

"Wh-what?" Kenichi replied feebly.

"Well if you run into someone how is aiming at your head, we can't have you just assuming you can take the hit and getting knocked out dumbass." Sakaki explained. "It's pretty easy to knock someone out if ya hit their head hard enough."

"Yes, we'll have to train you to resist concussive damage like I said before." Akisame repeated, his eyes glowing brighter than before. "I suggest we start theorizing immediately gentlemen so we can prepare the new routine for our adorable disciple."

"I agree Akisame." Ma said, the telltale glint also in his eyes.

"Heh I'll just aim at his head more." Sakaki said confidently. "I'll also tell Apachai what we're planning on doing." He said, pulling a beer bottle out of his pocket and cutting it open with his hand. Kenichi whimpered like a wounded and dying animal.

"Nooo~! At least let him wear it a bit before you try and break it!" Miu said, looking angrily at the masters except for Shigure.

"Feh! Shigure made it!" Sakaki said after taking a long drink from the bottle. "I doubt it'll be breaking anytime soon."

"I have to agree with Sakaki-chan on this Miu." Ma said, nodding his head. "Shigure makes very fine equipment, Ken-chan's head is more likely to break then that headband."

"That isn't any better!" Miu shouted, her face turning red as she flailed her arms angrily and yelled at the masters. Kenichi meanwhile, had curled into a small all and began chanting some sad sounding in gibberish.

"Given how well Kenichi has taken hits to his head in the past, I doubt he'll be in any real danger from what we do to him Miu." Akisame said, trying to sound and gentle and convincing as possible, not that Miu or Kenichi were buying it. "Well, I say we all go to sleep now, it is rather late, I trust we'll have our little meeting tomorrow while they're at school gentlemen?" Akisame asked, his question directed at Ma and Sakaki.

"Yeah yeah." Sakaki replied, walking out the door.

"Yes." Ma replied "Oh, and have you seen my sedative potion lately Akisame, it seems to have vanished and I haven't had a chance to dilute it in safe amounts yet."

"No I haven't what does the container look like?" Akisame asked, thinking a bit.

"It's a bottle with a large symbol for "potion" on it, it'd be impossible to miss." Ma said, making the exact shape and symbol of the bottle the Shigure had used on Kenichi's back.

"Oh, it…broke." Shigure said, turning and wiping a bit more sweat from her brow.

"Why would you have my sedative potion Shigure?" Ma asked, tilting his head in confusion. "If you were injured badly enough to need it, Akisame or I could've seen to you when you'd first gotten back." He was confused by why she would take any of his potions in the first place. But he was also a little hurt she didn't ask him to put it on, he did have a few expert massage techniques for the application of said potions to her skin.

"I don't…know." She replied, putting her work apron up. "It was just in my bathing bucket." She pointed to said bucket, which was sitting on the wall.

"Huh." Ma felt even more confused now. "Well I suppose I'll just make another batch." he shrugged and turned back to Akisame "Maybe we should add some more security on our hospitals."

"It's possible." Akisame said, shrugging as well. "Kenichi, you should head to bed now." he walked over and patted Kenichi on the shoulder to break him out of his depression. "You'll be fine anyway, we haven't killed you yet and we won't try to." Kenichi curled into an even tighter ball, his chanting getting louder and more gibberish like still.

"Stop scaring him!" Miu shouted, walking over and hugging Kenichi defensively. He instantly relaxed and smiled in a goofy, yet happy way.

"I'm not." Akisame said, perfectly calmly. Shigure, who had been moving around putting away her equipment, walked over to Akisame's side and crouched down so she was eye level with Kenichi.

"I can…make better headbands…for you. And not tell any…of the others." She whispered in his ear, causing Kenichi to perk up more.

"Really Shigure-san?" Kenichi said, his eyes lighting up. Miu's eyes lit up as well out of joy that at least one of the masters wasn't acting like they were out to get Kenichi. Akisame raised an eyebrow at their sudden joy, but decided it wasn't really going to be his issue. Shigure would make sure that Kenichi got ample training as well. Because the more armor he got, the more he'd have to train against her to be ready for an armed opponent. So it was good that he was getting more comfortable with her.

"Yes…as long as… you scrub my back…a bit more." Shigure said, smiling slightly at Kenichi, causing him to blush again. "You can even… put your…head on my…chest again." Kenichi spaced out at this, his memory fully coming back and

At this, Miu stopped hugging Kenichi, stood up, her face red with an "unknown emotion" as she stomped out of the room. Ma's jaw dropped and his eyes seemed to shoot out of his head towards Kenichi, his look promising training unlike Kenichi had ever known if he didn't tell him the full story. Sakaki, who was about to chop another beer bottle open, missed from shock and accidentally sliced some of Shigure's door, Akisame just grinned a bit before turning and pulling Ma with him outside of the room.

"Well, I think we'll let you two go to sleep now." He said, still pulling Ma with him as he closed the slightly damaged door behind him.

"I need another beer." Sakaki said, opening the door and leaving. "Sorry about your door Shigure."

"It's…alright." Shigure said, not being particularly concerned about her door.

"Hey Kenichi!" Sakaki shouted with only his head still in the doorway.

"Yes Sakaki-sensei?" Kenichi asked a somewhat pouting tone in his voice due to Miu's reaction.

"Drink lots of milk so your skull has plenty of calcium so you'll survive your new training." Sakaki closed the door after leaving him with that last sage piece of advice. Not that it improved Kenichi's mood at all as he curled into a ball again, not muttering more sad and now frightened gibberish.

"You'll be…fine." Shigure said, still keeping eye contact with Kenichi.

"You really think so Shigure-san?" Kenichi asked, some tears on his face from fear. She nodded, her face unreadable the whole time. "Thanks Shigure-san."

"Your…welcome." She said, standing up and jumping up to the rafters and laying on one of the large beams.

"I guess I'll head back to my room then." Kenichi said as he stretched and took off his headband, pocketing it carefully.

"Don't let…the bed bugs…devour you." Shigure said sleepily.

"I…I won't." Kenichi said, knowing what she meant, but that didn't make what she said any less creepy. He gently closed the door behind him and walking quietly back to his room.

Tochumaru crawled up to Shigure and buried himself between his breasts. Shigure looked down at him and picked him out and held him at eye level.

"You have…some explaining to…do." Shigure said at the mouse. Tochumaru shrugged at her innocently.

"So, what happened involving you, Shigure and my special potion?" Ma said, startling Kenichi. He had been standing around the corner, waiting for Kenichi to show up.

"N-nothing!' Nothing happened!" Kenichi shouted, attempting to back pedal away from Ma. It didn't work, but his futile attempt did amuse the Chinese kempo master.

"Come now Ken-chan, you can tell me." He said, appearing behind Kenichi and poking his back, startling him more.

"Nothing happened!" Kenichi shouted again, bolting foreword, only to be intercepted by Ma again.

"Tell me what happened Ken-chan, the power of ero compels you!" Ma shouted, his eyes glowing brightly.

"Akisame-sensei! Help Me!" Kenichi shouted.

"Ehhh, I don't wanna." Came from around the corner and Ma pulled Kenichi away from Shigure's door.

"!"


End file.
